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This morning, I, like many other Vermonters, woke up and thought, "I wonder if the pope died last night." The first thing I did when I got out of bed was turn on my computer. While it booted up, I went downstairs and plucked my Burlington Free Press off my porch. It said the Pope was still alive. But maybe he died last night, I thought. So I looked online.

Then, convinced that the pope was indeed still breathing, I read the paper. I found a mammoth above-the-fold photo of Catholics crowded into St. Peter's Square beneath klieg lights, praying. The headline reads: "Vatican calls world to pray." The pope package includes a whopping 7 stories — 2 on the front page, and 5 more inside, listed on a menu bar just below the fold.

Why the saturation coverage? I mean, I care about the pope, but frankly, his death won't have much of an impact on my life. Could it be that covering the pope is easier than devoting the energy and effort to understanding the state's Medicaid crisis, or the new pension bill? Anybody can Google the papal election process, or provide an overview of the challenges the next pope will face (two of the inside stories in today's paper). But it takes a really dedicated reporter to get in-depth coverage of government bureaucracies. Of course, of the 7 stories, 5 came from either the A.P or the L.A. Times.

This analysis I read this morning, from Howard Gold's Fighting the Tape at Barron's Online, draws the connection between Gannett's high profits and its lack of hard-hitting investigative journalism. Investigative journalism is simply not profitable — BFP managing editor Geoff Gevalt said as much in a panel last week at Johnson State College. Fewer investigative journalists in the newsroom means more coverage of the pope, and less coverage of issues that really matter to Vermonters.